Light Rail Schemes

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many new light rail schemes in large cities are planned; how many light rail schemes have been delivered in the last five years; and how many he expects will be delivered by July 2010.

Derek Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to my answers of 18 January 2006, Official Report, columns 1385–6W and 24 January 2006 [UIN40581] to the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell.

Railways

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of domestic freight traffic is transported by rail.

Derek Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 18 January 2006, Official Report, column 1384W to the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell.

Railways

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to ensure that railway ticket prices represent value for money for passengers.

Derek Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 18 January 2006, Official Report, column 1383W to the hon. Member for Windsor.

Rolling Stock

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many rail vehicles (a) were delivered in each year since 1996 and (b) are due to be delivered in each year to 2012, broken down by manufacturer; and what the total value of rolling stock orders (i) delivered in each year since 1996 and (ii) due to be delivered in each year to 2012 is, broken down by manufacturer.

Derek Twigg: The following table shows the number of new vehicles introduced into revenue earning service each year, broken down by manufacturer. The most recent new order is for vehicles which are due to be introduced into service in 2009. Not included are the orders anticipated but not yet in place for the replacement fleet for the existing HST high speed trains currently planned to enter service from 2012.
	
		New vehicles introduced into revenue earning service
		
			 Number 
			  Bombardier Alstom Siemens CAF/Siemens Hitachi Total 
		
		
			 1996 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 1997 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 1998 20 0 0 0 0 20 
			 1999 145 8 0 0 0 153 
			 2000 160 60 0 0 0 220 
			 2001 332 222 0 48 0 602 
			 2002 444 166 0 8 0 618 
			 2003 228 259 172 8 0 667 
			 2004 773 178 409 0 0 1,360 
			 2005 427 12 284 0 0 723 
			 2006 6 0 157 0 0 163 
			 2007 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 2008 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 2009 0 0 0 0 168 168 
			 Total 2,535 905 1,022 64 168 4,694 
		
	
	The following table shows the estimated value of the orders placed for the aforementioned vehicles, broken down by manufacturer. The values are listed by year in which the order was placed.
	
		Estimated value of new vehicle orders placed
		
			 £ million 
			  Bombardier Alstom Siemens CAF/Siemens Hitachi Total 
		
		
			 1996 11 0 0 0 0 11 
			 1997 257 92 0 0 0 349 
			 1998 624 265 0 55 0 944 
			 1999 47 663 0 0 0 710 
			 2000 125 0 0 9 0 134 
			 2001 19 0 679 9 0 707 
			 2002 1,122 0 0 0 0 1,122 
			 2003 163 0 200 0 0 363 
			 2004 0 0 125 0 0 125 
			 2005 7 0 0 0 235 242 
			 Total 2,375 1,020 1,004 73 235 4,707

Birds' Eggs (Thefts)

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people were prosecuted for the theft of rare birds' eggs in each of the last seven years; and what steps she is taking to tackle such thefts.

Jim Knight: The information we hold on offences under Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 does not distinguish between egg theft offences and other offences under that section.
	However, information on the total number of defendants subject to proceedings at magistrates1 courts for offences relating to stealing of birds eggs in England and Wales, 1998–2004 1 is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Act Offence description 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 Game Act 1831 sec. 12, 23, 3, 24 Killing game illegally. Killing or taking without certificate. Laying poison to destroy or injure game. Taking or destroying the eggs of game, wild fowl etc., or having eggs so taken in possession 20 25 9 7 7 16 10 
			  
			 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 sec. 1 Protection of nests and eggs of wild birds 19 14 10 31 10 17 18 
			 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 sec. 3 Protection of the nests and eggs of wild birds in sanctuaries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 sec. 6 Sale etc. of live or dead wild birds, eggs etc. 3 2 4 1 0 1 1 
		
	
	(1) These data are on the principal offence basis
	Source:
	RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform
	Ref: IOS 020–06
	The Government are committed to combating wildlife crime, and, through the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime, supports the network of Police Wildlife Crime Officers who enforce these controls. In particular, the police response to egg thefts—'Operation Easter'—has made an important impact on this type of crime, and the criminals involved.

Horse Exports

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will take steps to ensure that exported horses are categorised for export as for (a) breeding, (b) riding, (c) exhibition and (d) slaughter; and if she will take steps to ban the export of horses for slaughter.

Ben Bradshaw: European Union animal health rules, which set out the requirements for exporting horses to other member states do not stipulate different rule for horses being exported for breeding, riding, exhibition or slaughter. A unilateral ban on the export of live horses for slaughter would be illegal under EU law.
	Under national animal welfare rules, we have a licensing system for the export of horses. Applicants wishing to export horses are asked the reason for export. However there is no evidence of a slaughter trade in this country or any demand for one. Information on reasons for export under the licensing arrangements can be found on the Defra website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/welfare/farmed/transport/horsestats.htm http://defraweb/animalh/wel fare/farmed/transport/horsestats.htm

Methane Emissions

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government are taking to reduce methane emissions in the UK; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: UK methane emissions have fallen every year since 1990 and by 2004 had dropped to about half of 1990 levels. The main sources of methane emissions in the UK are landfill sites, agriculture, coal mining, gas distribution, and oil and gas production.
	Landfill site operators that continue to accept waste must fulfil the requirements of the Landfill Directive including taking appropriate measures to collect, treat and use landfill gas to produce useful energy or, where that is not possible, flare it. Other government measures to reduce the levels of biodegradable waste being sent to landfill include the landfill tax escalator, the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (designed to meet the Landfill Directive targets), and public awareness campaigns. Together these measures have resulted in a decrease of about 63 per cent. in landfill methane emissions between 1990 and 2004.
	The nature of emissions from agriculture make them a more difficult to target for reduction than in other sectors. Nonetheless, improvement in animal diet and productivity has produced an 11 per cent. decrease in methane emissions from animals since 1990, and further reductions are expected. Recent research from the Rowett Research Institute, based in Aberdeen into anti-methane feed ingredients has yielded promising results, and in initial trials a reduction of up to 70 per cent. in emitted methane has been achieved. The UK Government remain committed to research into reducing methane emissions from ruminants. We are also committed to exploring techniques for methane recovery from agricultural waste and its use as a clean energy source.
	With regard to methane from coal mining, UK Coal signed up to the UK Emissions Trading scheme in 2002, with the target of reducing methane emissions from their installations by 400,000 tonnes by 2006. Furthermore methane extracted from abandoned coal mines and used as fuel has been exempt from the climate change levy since 2003. This exemption encourages the owners of mining facilities and decommissioned mines to invest in systems that capture methane that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. In addition the Coal Authority and the Department of Trade and Industry are developing a scheme further to encourage the mitigation of methane from abandoned mines. Methane emissions from coal mining (including closed mines) fell by some 73 per cent. between 1990 and 2004.
	Fugitive emissions from natural gas dropped by about 39 per cent. between 1990 and 2004. National Grid Gas plc, which owns and maintains the UK gas distribution network, is continuing to make improvements to the UK gas network. The planned replacement of 91,000 km iron gas mains with polyethylene pipes will lead to a further reduction in methane emissions from gas transmission.
	Methane emissions from offshore production of oil and gas fell by 53 per cent. between 1990 and 2004 in line with trends in numbers of installations and production levels.

Recycling

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to encourage industry to create recyclable products.

Ben Bradshaw: The Government recognises the importance of encouraging industry to develop recyclable products. Since it began work in 2000 the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has had a positive impact in developing markets for recycled materials and removing barriers to recycling. WRAP is engaged with producers and purchasers and has developed guidance along with the provision of advisory services to increase the take up of recycled products throughout a range of industries.
	Producer responsibility legislation, such as the Packaging, End of Life Vehicle (ELV) and forthcoming Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations, places obligations on producers to recycle products when they come to their end of life, providing an incentive for them to ensure their products are more recyclable from the outset.
	Finally as disposal costs continue to rise due to increased landfill tax there should be an indirect pressure on manufacturers to make products more recyclable.

Recycling

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many recycling points there are per 1,000 population in (a) England, (b) the Tees Valley and (c) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency.

Ben Bradshaw: Requested figures, based on the 2003–04 DEFRA municipal waste management survey and 2003 mid-year population estimates are shown in the following. Recycling points are considered as both civic amenity and recycling sites within the area.
	
		
			  Recycling points per 1,000 population 
		
		
			 England 0.41 
			 Tees Valley 0.18 
			 Middlesbrough unitary authority 0.09 
			 Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority 0.10 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The Tees Valley includes the unitary authorities of: Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar and Cleveland, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Darlington.
	2. Results for the unitary authorities of Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland have been provided as data at constituency level are not available.

Recycling

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures are being taken to ensure that the recycling rate of (a) household and (b) business refuse in the Tees Valley region is brought up to the national average.

Ben Bradshaw: The information is as follows:
	(a) Waste strategy 2000 set out national recycling and composting targets for household waste, of 17 percent. in 2003–04, rising to 25 percent. in 2005–06, then 30 percent. in 2010 and 33 percent. in 2015. Each local authority was also set a statutory target for 2003–04 and 2005–06 and to assure that further progress is made, I recently launched for consultation options for further recycling/composting targets in 2007–08. All of the Tees Valley authorities met their 2003–04 targets and most are making good progress towards their 2005–06 targets.
	In addition to the recycling targets the Household Waste Recycling Act 2003 requires waste collection authorities—subject to certain exemptions—to provide a kerbside collection service of at least two recyclable materials by 2010. Furthermore, waste disposal authorities have been set challenging landfill diversion targets for biodegradable municipal waste which will drive authorities to ensure that the recycling of this waste is maximised.
	The Government recognises the challenge local authorities in England face meeting their statutory performance standards in recycling and composting. Accordingly, in the 2004 Spending Review announced an increase in the environmental, protective, and cultural services block of £888 million by 2007–08 over 2004–05.
	Funding is also being provided from a variety of other sources to help authorities meet and exceed their targets. DEFRA's waste minimisation and recycling fund and its successor, DEFRA's waste performance and efficiency grant, are providing funding totalling £294 million over the three years to 2005–06 for specific projects to expand recycling operations of which the Tees Valley authorities have in total received around £5.5 million.
	The Tees Valley authorities have also benefited from consultancy support for the development of a joint waste management strategy through DEFRA's waste implementation programme which has devoted over £150 million over the three years to 2005–06 to strategic measures helping authorities to divert waste from landfill.
	The waste resources and action programme—a not-for-profit company supported by funding from the Government—has provided support to the Tees Valley authorities on home composting and over £270 000 for funding local communications in four of the five authorities. Each of the Tees Valley authorities is also participating in a £66 000 household incentive pilot scheme funded by DEFRA. The scheme will provide valuable information to all authorities on what household incentives provide the best increases in recycling rates in different types of community in the region.
	Within the context of the regional spatial strategy—which will provide the overarching framework for growth in the North East over the next 15 to 20 years, a regional waste strategy is being developed to encourage greater re-use and recycling of waste resources, moving them higher up the 'waste hierarchy'. The Government have also set up the North East regional support fund which has provided over £100,000 over the last two years for waste research chosen by the North East authorities—including strong Tees Valley representation.
	(b) There are different mechanisms in place to encourage businesses to recycle more and divert more waste from landfill sites. These include:
	The landfill tax escalator:
	The standard rate of landfill tax, which applies to active wastes, has been increased by £3 per tonne in 2005–06, and will be further increased by at least £3 per tonne in the following years to reach a medium—to long-term rate of £35 per tonne. The rate is currently £18 per tonne. The landfill tax was introduced to stimulate reductions in the levels of waste going to landfill and encourage the development of more sustainable waste management practices.
	The BREW programme:
	The business resource efficiency and waste (BREW) programme, which recycles revenue generated through the landfill tax, provides new support to business that specifically targets waste minimisation and the diversion of waste away from landfill.
	The landfill diversion targets:
	These will apply to biodegradable commercial waste that is collected by a local authority. As the cost of disposing of this waste will increase, authorities that collect commercial waste will have an incentive to ensure that as much of the waste is recycled as possible.
	Economics:
	The economic incentive for businesses to recycle is often much more clear-cut than it is for households as businesses generally pay for the volume of waste they create whereas householders pay a flat fee as part of council tax.
	Packaging waste regulations:
	These regulations set annual business targets for recovery and recycling of packaging waste designed to meet the national targets. Any business handling more than 50 tonnes of packaging and with a turnover of more than £2 million is obligated. To date, businesses have recovered 53 percent in 2003 of packaging waste, compared with 33 percent in 1998; and recycled 47 percent. compared with 29 percent. in 1998.

Recycling

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidelines the Department provides to councils regarding reprimanding businesses and households who refuse to comply with recycling requirements.

Ben Bradshaw: Local authorities can require householders to recycle their recyclables using their powers under section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 contains provisions which, when commenced in April 2006, will enable local authorities to issue fixed penalty notices to those breaching notices issued under sections 46 or 47 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
	However, Government strongly believes that the right approach to changing behaviour is to continue to work with householders to ensure that they are given every opportunity to take part in recycling through the provision of a high quality recycling service, before enforcement is considered as an option.
	Local authorities are not required to collect waste from businesses unless requested by the business and a charge can be levied for the service. The local authority would be at liberty to negotiate a requirement to separate recyclables as part of the contract.

Recycling

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much Government funding (a) the Ruislip-Northwood constituency and (b) the London borough of Hillingdon received to support recycling in each year since 1997.

Ben Bradshaw: DEFRA does not hold information on funding allocated to individual constituencies.
	The main source of funding for local authorities' waste management services is the Environmental, Protective and Cultural Services (EPCS) block of annual Government grant. It is for the local authorities to decide what proportion of the block is invested in waste management services, including recycling.
	Funding is also being provided from a variety of other sources to support recycling, the amounts received by the London borough of Hillingdon are shown in the following table:
	
		
			 £ 
			  2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 
		
		
			 Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund 202,500 200,000 — — 
			 Direct Consultancy Support — — 18,018 16,481 
			 Grant to relieve spending pressures in the waste area — — 117,565 — 
			 Waste Performance and Efficiency Grant — — — 225,905

Waste Management

Daniel Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what volume of street litter, exclusive of that which is collected from public litter bins, was collected by each local authority in each year since 1997.

Ben Bradshaw: Waste collection authorities under Schedule 2 of the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 will include such services as street sweeping, bulky waste collection, hazardous household waste collection, litter collections, household clinical waste collection and separate garden waste collection (not for composting). These type of wastes have been annually recorded in the Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey under the category "Other collected household waste". Authorities are not required to record street litter separately. Therefore the information requested is not held by the Department.

Documentary Guidance (Evidence/Documentary Access)

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is with regard to (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department giving evidence to the (i) Scottish Parliament, (ii) National Assembly for Wales and (iii) Northern Ireland Assembly committees; and to what categories of document he gives (A) full access, (B) restricted access and (C) no access to (1) the Scottish Parliament, (2) National Assembly for Wales, (3) Northern Ireland Assembly and (4) House of Commons select committees.

Don Touhig: Requests for the attendance of Ministers or officials to give evidence to the devolved legislatures, and for the provision of information to the assemblies, will be considered on a case by case basis. This consideration will reflect: the principles set out in the Cabinet Office guidance "Departmental Evidence and Response to Select Committees" (July 2005); the policy outlined in the Department for Constitutional Affairs' Devolution Guidance Note #12 "Attendance of UK Ministers and Officials at Committees of the Devolved Legislatures"; and the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. The principles underlying the provision of information to House of Commons Select Committees are set out in "Departmental Evidence and Response to Select Committees", particularly sections 4B and 4C.

External Consultants

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has paid since 2004 to external consultants who had previously been employed by the Department in any capacity within the previous five years.

Don Touhig: Specific data on external consultants who had previously been employed by the Department are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	However, summaries of MOD expenditure on external assistance, of which consultancy is a past, are available in the Library of the House for the years 1995–96 to 2004–05.

Iraq

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with his US counterpart about the comparative incidences of Gulf War illnesses in US and UK forces involved in the invasion of Iraq in 2003; and what the results of those discussions were.

Don Touhig: Defence Ministers have not held any formal discussions with the United States counterparts about the comparative incidence of "Gulf War illness" following the start of the current Iraq deployment (Operation TELIC). A British Liaison Officer is based permanently in Washington DC and is tasked with ensuring that the United Kingdom has full visibility of US research into Gulf health issues and with providing a channel for communicating our own work to interested US parties. There has also been other discussions on the subject at official level.

Territorial Army

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence upon which sections of the Territorial Army the call-out notices for Operation Telic 8 are being served.

Don Touhig: Call-out notices for Operation Telic 8 are being served upon volunteers from across a variety of regiments and corps in the Territorial Army, including: the pool of Watch Keepers; the Royal Armoured Corps; the Royal Artillery; the Infantry; the Royal Logistics Corps; and the Army Medical Services.

Transport Aircraft

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's expenditure on RAF (a) tanker and (b) transport aircraft was in each financial year since 1996–97.

Adam Ingram: A number of areas within the Department incur expenditure on the RAF's Air Refuelling (AR) and transport fleets. The financial information requested is not held centrally and could be supplied only at disproportionate cost. The figures provided in the table are the logistic support costs of the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) that can be directly attributed to the fixed wing aircraft fleets in the financial years for which costs are readily available.
	The AR fleet is comprised of Tristar and the VC10 aircraft. The transport aircraft are C-17, Hercules C-130J/K, Tristar, VC10, BAe 125 and BAe 146.
	The table does not include contract lease costs for three commercially owned military registered Twin Squirrel helicopters, which are used in the VIP transport role, as these costs are commercially sensitive.
	
		
			   £ million 
			 Financial year RAF's air refuelling (AR) Transport aircraft(4) 
		
		
			 1996–97 58 — 
			 1997–98 53 — 
			 1998–99 53 — 
			 1999–2000 45 — 
			 2000–01 44 — 
			 2001–02 41 — 
			 2002–03 50 218 
			 2003–04 47 229 
			 2004–05 45 207 
		
	
	(4) These figures include the lease cost of the C-17 fleet which is managed by the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA). The value of the lease is commercial-in-confidence and is not identified separately.
	Note:
	DLO and DPA staff costs are not included.

Departmental Staff (Castle Point)

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many staff employed by his Department live in Castle Point.

Jim Murphy: Cabinet Office figures are less than five and have been suppressed as disclosure could lead to identification of the people involved.

Correspondence

Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she will reply to the letter dated 23 August 2005 from the hon. Member for Torridge and West Devon, with regard to Mr. J. Moody.

James Purnell: holding answer 20 January 2006
	Your letter was sent to right hon. Alun Michael, Minister of State, for the Department of Trade and Industry and it was received in DCMS on 8 December 2005. I wrote to the hon. Member for Torridge and West Devon on 17 January 2006.

Library/Leisure Facilities

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total library service book stock was in Lancashire in each year since 1997.

David Lammy: The total bookstock held by Lancashire County Libraries for each year between 1997–98 and 2003–04 is shown in the table. These figures are drawn from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's annual Public Library Statistics (Actuals). Copies are kept in the House of Commons Library.
	
		
			  Total bookstock 
		
		
			 1997–98 3,113,918 
			 1998–99 2,486,056 
			 1999–2000 2,386,475 
			 2000–01 2,316,941 
			 2001–02 2,309,223 
			 2002–03 2,184,021 
			 2003–04 2,107,879

Library/Leisure Facilities

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the Deputy Prime Minister on the demand for (a) libraries and (b) leisure facilities arising from the planned housing expansion in Aylesbury Vale.

David Lammy: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has not had any discussions with my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on the demand for libraries and leisure facilities in Aylesbury Vale. The Department has, however, been taking steps to ensure that adequate cultural infrastructure forms part of new developments across all of the growth areas including that covering Milton Keynes South Midlands (MKSM) The Department and its non-departmental public bodies have, for instance, been contributing to the work of the MKSM inter-regional board to ensure that the requirements of the cultural sector are reflected in proposals for development in the sub region and this led to the publication of the "Living Spaces Culture and Sustainable Communities in the MKSM, guide for Local Delivery Vehicles" consultation document, launched in March 2005.

Sustainable Development

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what parts of her Department's estate will not be covered by the commitments set out in the framework for sustainable development on the Government estate.

David Lammy: All parts of the Department's estate are covered by the framework for sustainable development on the Government estate.

Disaster Relief

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what measures he proposes to improve the humanitarian response to natural disasters and long-term reconstruction thereafter.

Hilary Benn: I made proposals in a speech in New York on 23 January. We have worked with the UN to establish a new Fund which will channel money to disasters quickly. We are calling for a strengthened role for UN humanitarian co-ordinators; improvements to the UN Flash Appeals system; and for the UN to develop proposals to increase staffing capacity.
	The UK supports a clear role for the World Bank to support and coordinate longer-term recovery and reconstruction following natural disasters, properly co-ordinated with the UN. The Bank should ensure it has mechanisms in place for prompt and sustainable response to changed country needs.

Sudan

Si�n James: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent reports he has received of abuse of women and children in Darfur, Sudan; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: The UN Security Council report of 23 December 2005 stated that
	the incidence of sexual and gender-based violence in and around camps of internally displaced persons remained high throughout Darfur,
	and that the authorities were still failing to act
	with due diligence to prevent, investigate and prosecute acts of rape.
	Such attacks are abhorrent and unacceptable. We have made clear to the Government of Sudan that more must be done to provide security for the people of Darfur, and that the perpetrators must be brought to justice. Last month, the UK with other representatives of the international community, participated in a joint mission to assess human rights in West Darfur. The mission paid specific attention to sexual violence, and produced a number of recommendations. We are pressing the Government of Sudan to implement these as a matter of urgency.
	With our partners, we are encouraging the Africa Union Mission in Darfur to scale up patrols and provide protection for women and girls when they leave their camps. Where this happens the number of reported rapes has decreased significantly. Next month the UN will launch a new information system that will record details of all incidents of sexual and gender-based violence, better data helping to ensure better prospects of prosecution. Separately, DFID is providing funding for protection as part of our humanitarian and rule of law programmes.

Sudan

Si�n James: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on UK Government (a) aid and (b) humanitarian assistance projects in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Hilary Benn: We are responding generously to the humanitarian needs of Sudan, including Darfur, contributing 70 million in 2005. We are doing this by directly supporting the UN humanitarian work plan, and by our funding of international NGOs and other agencies.
	In the main, our funding is not earmarked for any specific region, but a substantial proportion of our work plan contribution goes to the principal UN agencies working in Darfur, such as UNICEF (water and sanitation, especially in camps for displaced people), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Food Programme (emergency food supplies). Of the main international NGOs working in Darfur, we are supporting Oxfam (water); Goal (provision of basic humanitarian services); Mdecins Sans Frontires (health care); Action Contre Faim (nutrition); and CARE (non-food humanitarian items). We are also supporting the International Committee of the Red Cross, who are working in priority areas of Darfur, often beyond the reach of other humanitarian agencies.
	The security and political situation in Darfur currently precludes the provision of significant development assistance there.

Debt Relief

Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much annual additional debt relief has been awarded to each of the 19 beneficiary countries as a result of the implementation by the International Monetary Fund of the decision taken at Gleneagles.

Hilary Benn: In response to the G8's proposals, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved approximately 1.78 billion worth of debt relief to 19 countries under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). The following table provides estimates of this debt relief by country on an annual basis.
	An additional 20 countries will qualify for IMF debt stock cancellation when they reach Completion Point of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.
	Mauritania, which has already reached HIPC Completion Point, could also qualify for MDRI relief after certain remedial actions are taken.
	
		
			million 
			 Country 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total 
		
		
			 Benin 4.3 3.7 4.7 5.2 4.4 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.1 28.4 
			 Bolivia 27.2 49.1 44.7 17.1 4.0 1.6143.7 
			 Burkina Faso 6.1 8.9 9.6 7.9 6.7 5.2 2.5 0.8 0.2 48.1 
			 Cambodia 3.7 6.4 9.1 9.7 8.3 6.2 3.4 0.7  47.5 
			 Ethiopia 4.6 6.6 10.4 11.9 15.5 15.2 8.9 5.2 2.5 80.7 
			 Ghana 18.0 20.9 26.9 26.4 30.7 30.5 17.5 10.9 4.3 186.1 
			 Guyana 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.9 4.1 2.9 2.9 2.0 1.0 27.2 
			 Honduras 15.3 18.0 18.0 14.4 8.7 6.1 3.4 3.4 2.5 89.7 
			 Madagascar 10.6 12.6 14.4 18.1 19.6 12.4 9.5 7.6 3.8 108.7 
			 Mali 7.5 8.0 8.3 9.5 7.6 6.5 3.4 1.8 0.1 52.8 
			 Mozambique 12.0 13.5 14.9 13.7 8.9 4.4 2.4 1.0 0.2 71.0 
			 Nicaragua 6.6 8.7 10.0 11.9 12.6 9.3 9.2 6.9 3.4 78.6 
			 Niger 4.7 6.3 7.8 9.2 9.8 8.4 6.3 3.2 0.7 56.4 
			 Rwanda 8.8 10.3 9.4 7.5 5.1 2.0 0.4 0.2 0.1 43.9 
			 Senegal 17.5 19.8 14.8 10.9 7.6 5.2 1.9 0.8 0.2 78.9 
			 Tajikistan 8.9 8.9 8.7 5.7 7.0 5.9 5.9 4.5 2.4 57.9 
			 Tanzania 34.0 32.9 29.8 26.2 22.1 15.4 8.8 3.9 0.7 173.7 
			 Uganda 19.8 16.0 11.4 8.1 4.2 2.0 1.2 1.0 0.3 64.0 
			 Zambia 10.3 23.7 40.3 46.2 65.4 59.7 45.1 27.3 20.3 338.3 
			 Total 223.5 277.9 296.8 263.5 252.2 201.9 134.6 82.1 43.0 1,775.5 
		
	
	Note:
	The figures in the table are in United Kingdom Pounds (). They have been converted from International Monetary Fund data which is given in Special Drawing Rights (SDR). The exchange rates used was 0.82, the mid-market rate as at 10:00 am on 24 January 2006.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what monitoring of the use of (a) bilateral and (b) multilateral aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo is undertaken by his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: Monitoring of the use of aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is conducted in accordance with standard DFID procedures that apply across all of the Department's programmes. For our bilateral aid, organisations implementing projects on behalf of DFID are required to submit regular, usually quarterly, financial and narrative reports on their activities. In addition, projects over 1 million require a full review to be undertaken by at least annually with recommendations for actions to maximise impact and a final completion report, including the lessons learned to inform future programming. Regular monitoring by DFID staff, who remain closely in touch with partner organisations throughout the duration of a project, is also an important part of the monitoring process.
	All multilateral agencies have their own internal monitoring and evaluation systems and DFID's work on reforming of the international system has included helping to strengthen these systems to deliver results at a country level. An example is DFID's use of the Multilateral Effectiveness Framework to assess the performance of multilateral agencies and make recommendations for improvement. The UK has a seat on the board of multilateral organisations, and so is involved in multilateral decision making including the development and review of country strategies and programmes.
	DFID also works jointly with multilateral agencies on many projects. DFID in the DRC works with multilateral agencies and other bilateral donors on justice, infrastructure, humanitarian, police, governance, HIV/AIDS and social sector projects. Working together in this way enables DFID to design, monitor and evaluate these programmes jointly with other donor organisations.
	One of the most important ways in which we monitor multilateral agencies' work is through daily discussion, sharing information and ideas, between DFID staff in the DRC and partners in the European Commission, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations on both the development of their overall strategies for the DRC and the implementation of individual programmes.

External Consultants

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has paid since 2004 to external consultants who had previously been employed by the Department in any capacity within the previous five years.

Hilary Benn: Since the beginning of 2004, the Department for International Development (DFID) has spent 407,781 since 2004 on external consultants, who had been previously employed by the Department within the previous 5 years.

Iraq

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of the Iraqi population have had access to safe drinking water for each of the past four years.

Hilary Benn: The last reliable pre-conflict figures for safe water are for 2000, when urban and rural levels of access to safe water were estimated at 92 per cent. and 46 per cent. respectively. The discriminatory policies of the former regime meant access varied significantly by region and was generally worse in the south. Access to safe water deteriorated as a result of the conflict and post-war looting in 2003. The immediate post-conflict coverage was estimated at 60 percent. for urban and 30 per cent. for rural populations. Since then, donors, including DFID, have worked hard to restore supplies, and we estimate that 1.25 million more Iraqis have access to safe drinking water than before the conflict.
	The best information we have on safe water supply in Iraq comes from the Iraq living Conditions Survey 2004 conducted by the Iraqi Central Office for Statistics and Information Technology in April/May 2004. This survey can be found at http://www.iq.undp.org/ILCS/overview.htm
	In urban areas, 99 per cent. of households have access to safe drinking water but for 33 per cent. the supply is unreliable. In rural areas, 65 per cent. of households have access to safe drinking water, but for 22 per cent. the supply is unreliable.
	In most cases, the main barrier to access to safe drinking water is the condition of the pipelines, rather than the water supply itself. This is partly due to the tendency for insurgents to target water, electricity and oil pipelines, as well as the reconstruction staff working to repair them.

Iraq

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the rate of unemployment has been in Iraq for each of the past four years.

Hilary Benn: No official figures on the Iraqi labour force exist, so only very broad estimates of unemployment are available, and we do not have information broken down by year exactly as requested. An International Labour Organisation (ILO) mission to Iraq in April/May 2000 estimated the unemployment rate as 50 to 60 per cent. The United Nations and World Bank social and economic needs assessments (carried out after the conflict in 2003) estimated that the unemployment rate before the 2003 war had been around 30 per cent.
	Current estimates for unemployment vary considerably. The Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004, conducted by the Iraqi Central Office for Statistics and Information Technology in April/May 2004, estimates an unemployment rate of 10.5 per cent. This survey can be found at http://www.iq.undp.org/ILCS/overview.htm The Brookings Institution (Iraq Index, January 2006) estimates the current unemployment rate to be between 28 and 40 per cent., noting varying estimates from the Iraqi Ministry for Planning (30 per cent.) and the Iraqi Ministry for Social Affairs (48 per cent.). In the same report the Brookings Institution gives the following estimates of unemployment rates in previous months:
	
		
			  Percentage 
		
		
			 June 2003 50 to 60 
			 January 2004 30 to 45 
			 January 2005 27 to 40 
			 December 2005 25 to 40

Iraq

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the infant mortality rate has been in Iraq in each of the past four years.

Hilary Benn: Estimates of Iraq's infant mortality rate vary. The most detailed information we have on infant mortality rates in Iraq is the Iraq living Conditions Survey 2004 (ILCS) conducted by the Iraqi Central Office for Statistics and Information Technology in April/May 2004. This survey can be found at http://www.iq.undp.org/ILCS/overview.htm This gives information about infant mortality for the period 19992003. We do not have a breakdown of the data by year as requested.
	For the period 19992003, the survey shows the infant mortality rate as 32 deaths per 1,000 births during the first year of life. The rate for girls was 29 per 1,000 for girls and 25 per 1,000 for boys. However, other estimates have reported significantly higher infant mortality rates, and the ILCS report acknowledges that their estimate may be too low because of under-reporting of child deaths.
	A 2003 report by Ali, Blacker and Jones (respectively of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and UNICEF), reported the 1998 infant mortality rate as 100.8 deaths per 1,000 births. The UN Population Database (2004 revision) estimated Iraq's infant mortality rate as 94.3 deaths per 1,000 births for the period 19952000. They use the same estimate of 94.3 per 1,000 for the period 20002005.

Iraq

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the literacy rate has been in Iraq in each of the past four years.

Hilary Benn: The best information we have on literacy in Iraq is the Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004 conducted by the Iraqi Central Office for Statistics and Information Technology in April/May 2004. This survey can be found at http://www.iq.undp.org/ILCS/overview.htm.
	This tells us that two thirds of the adult Iraqi population; 65 per cent. claim to read and write without difficulty, and an additional 10 per cent. can read and write everyday material with some difficulty. In the younger age groups (aged 15 to 24), literacy rates are slightly higher than for the population at large: 71 per cent. claim to read and write without difficulty. There are significant differences in literacy by region and gender. This compares with adult literacy rates of 86 per cent. in Jordan, 75 per cent. in Syria and 53 per cent. in Yemen.
	Accurate figures for previous years are not readily available, since the last population survey took place in 1997.

Iraq

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the school enrolment rates have been in Iraq in each of the past five years for (a) girls and (b) boys, broken down by (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools.

Hilary Benn: The best information we have on school enrolment rates in Iraq is the Iraq living Conditions Survey 2004 conducted by the Iraqi Central Office for Statistics and information technology in April/May 2004. This survey can be found at:
	http://www.iq.undp.org/ILCS/overview.htm. It gives good information for 2004, but we do not have comparable data for the other years requested.
	This survey tells us that in 2004, 79 percent. of primary school age children were enrolled in school (83 percent. for boys, 75 percent. for girls). The net enrolment rate in intermediate school (lower secondary, covering ages 1316) is 41 percent. (47 percent. for boys and 36 percent. for girls). In secondary school (upper secondary, covering ages 1618) the net enrolment rate is 36 percent. (40 percent. for boys, 32 percent. for girls).
	The Arab human development report (2003) estimates the primary school enrolment rate was 100 percent. for boys and 85.66 percent. for girls in 19992000. The secondary school enrolment rate was estimated at 39.6 percent. for boys and 26.04 percent for girls in the same period.

Women's Rights

Si�n James: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had on the promotion of women's rights in developing countries.

Gareth Thomas: Eliminating gender inequality and promoting women's empowerment are essential to the achievement of all the millennium development goals (MDGs), not just MDG3 which focuses on women. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for International Development and I are regularly involved in discussions both internally and with external contacts on issues relevant to women's rights and empowerment. For example, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State raised issues relating to social exclusion and women's rights in a high-level panel discussion during the millennium review summit in September and subsequently discussed the issue of gender equality in education when he gave evidence to the International Development Committee at their session on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings and the summit in October.
	At a country level, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State had the opportunity to raise these issues during his visit to Bangladesh in December, where our strategy focuses on women and children. The Beijing high level group/education fast track initiative meeting which I attended in China on 1 December, also provided the opportunity to discuss the importance of girls' education, and to highlight the links between girls' education and reducing HIV infection. As part of our work on HIV and AIDS, we emphasise the unequal impact on women and their greater vulnerability, and on the occasion of world AIDS day, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State launched the progressive EU statement on prevention that emphasises women's rights.
	Issues of gender equality and the impact of development programmes on women are considered in preparation of DFID country assistance plans, and over the next year, we will be looking to see how we can strengthen this process given the increased emphasis in our development assistance on direct budgetary support. We recognise that no serious strategy for achieving the millennium development goals can fail to address gender inequality and women's empowerment as a central concern, and we are working to ensure that gender issues are made a priority across our work.

List 99

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education and Skills about the operation of List 99 in schools in Wales; and what the date was of the last such discussions.

Peter Hain: The Department for Education and Skills is responsible for barring and restricting teachers in both England and Wales.
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education briefed me and other Cabinet colleagues on issues arising from the operation of List 99 shortly before her statement to the House on 19 January 2006, Official Report, columns 96670. I, as the rest of Government, wholeheartedly support her in the actions she described to tighten the vetting and barring system.

Data Sharing

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will list the documents her Department has published on data-sharing between public sector organisations since 2001.

Harriet Harman: In November 2003 DCA published authoritative legal guidance on data-sharing called Public Sector Data Sharing Guidance on the Law. A public sector toolkit on data-sharing has also been published by DCA. The public service guarantee was published in October 2004. These documents can be found at:
	http://www.dca.gov.uk/foi/sharing/index.htm

Legal Aid

Peter Bone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the change in criminal legal aid rates has been over the last 10 years.

Bridget Prentice: There are different rates prescribed for the many separate schemes across a variety of services provided within the criminal defence service (CDS). The changes to the prescribed basic legal aid rates for work in the criminal courts are set in the following table.
	
		Defence legal aid rates Changes to the prescribed rates: Magistrates court proceedings, Crown court and Court of Appeal (Criminal) Proceedings
		
			  
		
		
			 1995 Solicitors' rates and counsels' Crown court standard fee rates increased by 2 percent. 
			 1996 Solicitors' rates and junior barristers' rates increased by 1.5 percent. 
			 1997 Nil uprating. 
			 1998 Nil uprating. 
			 1999 Nil uprating. 
			 2000 Nil uprating. 
			 2001 Magistrates courtGeneral Criminal Contract launched with an overall effect of an overall increase of 7.25 percent., though the increase in rates varied between classes of work. 
			  Criminal higher courtsRemuneration changes in October with the introduction of a common graduated fee scheme by the Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Crown Prosecution Service for advocates in all trials lasting up to 25 days in the Crown court. The effect of those changes was to raise total remuneration for one to 10 day cases by about 3.2 million and to leave the level of remuneration for 11 to 25 day cases broadly the same. These changes also included changes in the graduated fee scheme to allow for some payment for conferences and the attendance fee for plea and directions hearings was increased from 75 to 100. 
			 2002 Contract mileage rate under the General Criminal Contract increased to 45p 
			  Nil remuneration uprating. 
			 2003 Nil uprating. 
			 2004 Februarytelephone fixed fee implemented for police station advice and assistance. 30.25 national/31.45 London. 
			  OctoberDuty Solicitor. Serious offences rate introduced for police station advice and attendance at 80 per unsocial hour and 60 per hour at other times. Overall impact to introduce 3 million new money. 
			  Criminal courtsRemuneration changes in August to the Very High Cost Criminal case contract rates and Criminal Graduated Fee schemes. The effects of the changes were: to reduce bureaucracy for the Bar by taking some 50 percent., of VHCC cases into an extended graduated fee scheme, which now covers cases up to 40 days; raising the graduated fee rates for 11 to 25 day cases to the level which was expected in 2001 when the scheme was introduced and carrying those rates through to the 40 day extension; all Category 4 VHCC cases will be paid at the same rates as Category 3 VHCC cases; substantially increasing refreshers so that the same rate is now paid for Category 2 and 3 cases as for Category 1; moving terrorism cases into Category 1; moving under five-year advocate call rates to over five-year call rates. This settlement was a package to the Bar worth approximately 17 million. 11 million came from changes to the VHCCC scheme, and a further 6 million from the changes made to the 11 to 25 day graduated fee scheme where we made good the unintended shortfall that had occurred since the scheme was extended to 25 days on October 2001. 
			 2005 OctoberCuts in rates paid in some graduated fee and Very High Cost Criminal case contracts (to both advocate's and litigator's rates). Extension of the existing graduated fee scheme for cracks and guilty pleas. Estimated savings in RAB terms from these additional measures, excluding Cracks and Guilties, are 5.1 million and 20.8 million for 200506, 200607 respectively. The extension of the Cracks and Guilties schemes is anticipated to increase savings by an estimated total of 20 million over 200506 and 200607.

Valuation Office Agency

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many cases the Information Commissioner has considered in relation to the Valuation Office Agency since the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act; and what the ruling of the Commissioner was in each case.

Harriet Harman: The Information Commissioner's Office has considered four complaints from individuals about the Valuation Office Agency and disclosures of information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
	In two cases the complainants were advised, in accordance with the Act, that they needed to seek an internal review of their complaint by the Valuation Office Agency before the Commissioner would consider their complaints. In a third case as the complainant did not provide enough information to allow the Commissioner to investigate and the case was closed with no action being taken.
	In the final case the Information Commissioner did investigate and issued a Decision Notice in June 2005. The Commissioner decided that the agency had not dealt with the complainant's request in accordance with the requirements of part 1 of the Act in that it failed to comply with s1(1) or s17 within the time limit set out in s10(1). The complainant was provided with the information he requested.

Aliens (Removal)

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many aliens facing removal are signing on regularly at his Department.

Tony McNulty: We do not use such an offensive term as aliens. For the purpose of this question, aliens in the country who are removable is taken to mean failed asylum seekers and other immigration offenders who have no legal basis upon which to remain in the UK. The information requested, on the number of people in the country illegally who are facing removal and are signing on regularly at this Department, is not available. This information could be obtained only by examination of individual case files at disproportionate cost.

Criminal Records Bureau

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there is a deadline by which police checks via the Criminal Records Bureau should be completed.

Andy Burnham: Section 119 of the Police Act, 1997, which underpins the CRB Disclosure service states that
	where the chief officer of a police force receives a request under section 115 or 116 he shall comply with it as soon as practicable.

Prisons

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prisoners entering adult prisons and (b) under 21-year-olds entering young offenders institutions on their first custodial sentence could not read or write to a sufficiently high standard to apply for a job via a job centre (i) at the beginning and (ii) at the end of their sentence in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Phil Hope: I have been asked to reply.
	We do not collate the information requested centrally, however Home Office statistics show that 37 per cent. of prisoners have reading skills below level 1. (Prison Statistics for England and Wales 2002).
	As a result of learning and skills provision in prisons, the number of basic skills awards achieved by offenders in custody exceeded 63,000 in 200405 and the National Probation Directorate exceeded its annual target for basic skills awards with nearly 9,500 awards achieved by offenders in the community.
	The Green Paper, Reducing Re-offending through Skills and Employment (Cm 6702) launched by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (Ruth Kelly) on 15 December, set out the Government's strategy to improve the skills and job prospects of all offenders, so that more offenders secure employment in order to reduce re-offending.

Workers' Registration Scheme

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people from the new accession states registered on the Worker Registration Scheme are resident in Birmingham.

Tony McNulty: The Accession Monitoring Report, published on a quarterly basis, provides detailed statistical data on Accession state nationals who have registered on the Worker Registration Scheme (WRS).
	However, apart from London, the report does not contain data relating to individual towns or cities. For reference, the latest version of the report is available on the Home Office website via:http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/0/reports/accession_monitoring.html. The following figures have therefore been obtained from local management information using the WRS database.
	They have not been provided under National Statistics protocols and are therefore provisional and subject to change. The information covers the period one May 2004 to 30 September 2005, which corresponds with the period covered by the latest Accession Monitoring Report. The Birmingham postal area covers a large part of the West Midlands. Therefore the figures have been broken down into two parts (i) City of Birmingham covered by the area postcodes B1B5 inclusive; (ii) Birmingham area postcodes (codes starting with B) within the West Midlands (excluding those in Hereford and Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire). The number of accession state nationals who registered with the scheme and gave an address in these respective areas during the period one May 200430 September 2005 is as follows: (i) Birmingham (city)1,225 (ii) Birmingham (area)1,335 (excluding those in the Birmingham city area).
	This gives a total of 2,560 within the geographical area referred to. The figures show those applicants who have registered on the Scheme since one May 2004. The figures are not current; an individual who has registered to work and who leaves employment is not required to de-register, so some of those counted will have left the employment for which they have registered and some are likely to have left the UK. Thus the number currently residing in Birmingham or the West Midlands is unknown.

Young Offenders

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of children and young people convicted of an offence have been subject to (a) an antisocial behaviour order, (b) a parenting order and (c) a parenting contract in each of the past two years.

Fiona Mactaggart: Data is not collected in the form requested.

Young Offenders

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which part or agency of his Department is responsible for supervising young offenders under the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme; and how much the programme has cost in each year since it was introduced for each local authority area.

Fiona Mactaggart: The Youth Justice Board through individual schemes attached to youth offending teams, is responsible for funding the supervision of young offenders under the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme. The cost of each scheme is only available from April 2003 onwards and is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 ISSP scheme 200304 
		
		
			 Barnet, Enfield and Haringey 400,000 
			 Bath, North East Somerset, North Somerset and Somerset 350,000 
			 Bedfordshire, Luton 39,000 
			 Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton 600,000 
			 Birmingham 904,335 
			 Blackpool, Blackburn, Darwen, Lancashire 943,396 
			 Bournemouth and Poole, Dorset 89,700 
			 Bracknell Forest, Reading and Wokingham, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead 350,000 
			 Bradford 494,065 
			 Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow 800,000 
			 Brighton and Hove, East Sussex 84,500 
			 Bristol 411,473 
			 Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes 235,000 
			 Calderdale and Kirklees 468,824 
			 Cambridge 359,487 
			 Camden, Islington, Hackney and Tower Hamlets 538,645 
			 Carmarthenshire, Mid Wales , Pembrokeshire 92,605 
			 Cheshire, Halton and Warrington 175,500 
			 City of Stoke on Trent 285,258 
			 Conwy/Denbighshire, Gwynedd and Ynys Mon 99,125 
			 Cornwall 65,000 
			 County Durham 300,000 
			 Coventry and Solihull 288,194 
			 Cumbria 130,000 
			 Darlington, Hartlepool, South Tees and Stockton-on-Tees 1,188,293 
			 Derby City, Derbyshire 206,700 
			 Devon, Plymouth, Torbay 153,140 
			 Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton 600,000 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 39,000 
			 Essex 178,750 
			 Flintshire 70,233 
			 Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland 150,000 
			 Gloucestershire 105,300 
			 Greater Manchester 2,098,080 
			 Greenwich, Lewisham and Southwark 459,986 
			 Gwent Area 532,032 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea 398,470 
			 Hertfordshire 113,750 
			 Kent 506,469 
			 Kent and Medway 150,000 
			 Kingston-upon-Hull 161,409 
			 Knowsley, Sefton and St Helen's 426,557 
			 Lambeth and Wandsworth 683,418 
			 Leeds 629,126 
			 Leicester and Leicestershire 297,700 
			 Lincolnshire 120,900 
			 Liverpool 585,791 
			 Luton 412,893 
			 Newcastle, Northumberland and North Tyneside 493,553 
			 Newham 600,000 
			 Norfolk 100,750 
			 North East Wales 210,698 
			 North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire 101,400 
			 North of the Tyne 100,000 
			 Northamptonshire 133,250 
			 Nottingham and Nottinghamshire 743,370 
			 Oxfordshire 286,890 
			 Peterborough 300,000 
			 Rhondda Cynon Taff, Swansea, Vale of Glamorgan, Cardiff, Brigend, Merthyr Tydfil and Neath Port Talbot 1,204,668 
			 Rotherham Sheffield Doncaster Barnsley 900,000 
			 Solihull 55,000 
			 South East London 150,000 
			 South Gloucestershire 50,000 
			 South Gloucestershire/Bristol 25,000 
			 South Yorkshire 150,000 
			 Southend-on-Sea, Thurrock 126,750 
			 Staffordshire 579,032 
			 Suffolk 300,000 
			 Sunderland Gateshead South Tyneside 600,000 
			 Surrey 126,750 
			 Swindon, Wiltshire 68,510 
			 Thames 150,000 
			 Wakefield 312,157 
			 Waltham Forest, Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge and Havering 700,000 
			 Warwickshire 74,750 
			 Wessex 659,143 
			 West Sussex 88,725 
			 Wirral 337,630 
			 Worcestershire Herefordshire Shropshire Telford 397,000 
			 York and North Yorkshire 583,881 
			 Total 29,481,009

Export Licences (Defence)

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many appeals against refusal of export licences by his Department for the defence procurement industry have been lodged in each of the last five years; and how many of them were (a) refused and (b) successful.

Malcolm Wicks: The Government publishes information on all appeals against a decision to refuse an application, including the number that were refused and the number that were upheld, in its annual reports on strategic export controls, available from the Libraries of the House.

Export Licences (Defence)

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many applications for export licences for the defence procurement industry were made in 200405; and how many of them were dealt with within 20 days of receipt.

Malcolm Wicks: The Government publishes information on the number of export licence applications it has processed and its performance against target in doing so, in its annual reports on strategic export controls, available from the Libraries of the House. The 20 working day target relates to processing Standard Individual Export Licence applications. The Government also publishes quarterly licensing and performance information on the Export Control Organisation website,
	www.dti.gov.uk/export.control.

Inter-ministerial Meetings (Scottish Executive)

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many inter-ministerial meetings his Department has held with the Scottish Executive since May 1999; and what the (a) Scottish Executive department concerned, (b) subject and (c) date was in each case.

Alan Johnson: My predecessor met Jack McConnell (First Minister) and Jim Wallace (Deputy First Minister) on 12 July and 6 December 2004. I met Mr Wallace on 17 May 2005.
	These meetings were to discuss departmental business as it affected Scotland.
	My ministerial colleagues met as follows:
	
		
			  
		
		
			 Nigel Griffiths 3 November 2003 Met Jim Wallace to discuss small businesses and construction 
			 Nigel Griffiths 2 March 2004 Met Lewis MacDonald to discuss construction issues 
			 Stephen Timms 13 October 1999 Met Wendy Alexander to discuss ICT issues 
			  20 November 2000  
			  19 July 2001  
			  25 October 2001  
			
			 Stephen Timms 12 December 2001 Met Jack McConnell (subject not available) 
			 Mike O'Brien 6 December 2004 Met Jim Wallace to discuss Energy issues 
			 Malcolm Wicks 26 January 2005 Met Alan Wilson to discuss Energy issues 
			 Meg Munn 25 October 2005 Video-conference meeting with Malcolm Chisholm to discuss equality issues 
			 lan Pearson 12 October 2005 Met Jim Wallace as part of UK-wide ministerial forum attended by Devolved Administrations 
			 Lord Sainsbury 18 December 2002 Met Iain Gray to discuss implementation of 2002 Spending Review settlement and science strategy 
			 Lord Sainsbury 3 November 2003 Met Jim Wallace to discuss research funding

Cancer Treatments

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are taken to monitor access to cancer treatments for patients in (a) the North East and (b) Gateshead East and Washington West; and what steps are taken to ensure access meets the targets the Department has set.

Liam Byrne: The Department, in the NHS Cancer Plan, has set out new goals to reduce waiting times for diagnosis and treatment. There is a maximum two-month wait from urgent general practitioner referral for suspected cancer to start of treatment for all cancers by the end of 2005. For those patients that are routinely referred but subsequently diagnosed with cancer there is a maximum one month wait from diagnosis to treatment by the end of 2005.
	The monitoring of access to cancer treatments in the North East and Gateshead East is a local matter. However, most recent figures for Northumberland Tyne and Wear strategic health authority show 99.4 per cent. of urgent referrals are seen within two weeks. At Gateshead Health National Health Service Foundation Trust 98.2 per cent. of urgent referrals are seen within two weeks.

Smoking

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  pursuant to the oral statement of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Public Health in Standing Committee E of 6 December 2005, Official Report, column 70, what exemptions must be made to a ban on smoking in workplaces and public places to satisfy compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights;
	(2)  if she will place in the Library a copy of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State's reply to the Joint Committee on Human Rights letter on the subject of her proposals for a smoking ban being incompatible with Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Caroline Flint: The European Convention on Human Rights requires a fair balance to be struck between the rights of those who seek smoke-free areas and the rights of those who smoke. That balance may be different in different states and it may change from time to time. However, the Convention does not make requirements in relation to particular categories of premises.
	The Joint Committee on Human Rights' report, Legislation Scrutiny: Third Progress Report, published on 19 December 2005, includes a letter from the Chairman asking a number of questions about what will be needed for the Health Bill to satisfy compatibility requirements. The Secretary of State will be responding to that letter in due course and a copy of the reply will be placed in the Library. A copy of the report is available in the Library.

Wind Turbine Projects

John Greenway: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what account is taken of the viability of wind turbine projects in planning decisions.

Yvette Cooper: Planning Policy Statement 22 Renewable Energy makes it clear that the viability of a wind turbine project is an issue for the developer of the project. Regional planning bodies and local planning authorities should not make assumptions about the technical and commercial feasibility of renewable energy projects.

Music

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the potential effect of paying the money for improving the teaching and learning of music directly to individual schools on the music services provided by local education authorities.

Jacqui Smith: There has been no reduction in the amount of money paid to local authority music services for improving the teaching and learning of music; this will remain at just under 60 million per annum until at least 2008. In addition, all music services will receive an additional 10,000 in 200607 to support further instrumental and vocal tuition at Key Stage 2. Over the next two years, they will receive a share of 2 million for musical instruments and support for continuing professional development at a cost nationally of a further 2 million. I would expect these increases to have a significant positive impact on music services' ability to support teaching and learning at Key Stage 2.
	The further 26 million allocated to primary schools may be used to buy in specialist support from a range of providersI believe it is right to allow schools this degree of choice. Given music services' track record at KS2, and their positive relationship with schools (96 percent. say they are satisfied with the service they receive), it is likely that a great deal of this specialist support will continue to be bought in from local music services.

Physical Education (West Lancashire)

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average number of hours per week of physical education undertaken in (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools in West Lancashire was in 200405.

Jacqui Smith: Data from the annual PE, School Sport and Club Links survey is not collected in the format requested. The 2004/05 survey found that overall, 69 per cent. of 5 to 16-year-olds in partnership schools were spending at least two hours in a typical week on high quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum. This figure is 64 per cent. for primary schools and 75 per cent. for secondary schools. The survey collects data from schools within school sport partnerships. By September 2006, all maintained schools will be within a partnership.
	The results from school sport partnerships in Lancashire established at the time of the survey are as follows:
	
		
			 Partnership name Percentage of pupils who participated in at least two hours of high quality PE and out of hours school sport in a typical week 
		
		
			 Tulketh 57 
			   
			 Brownedge St. Mary's 47 
			   
			 Fearns Community 53 
			   
			 Heysham 70 
			   
			 Our Lady's Lancashire 58 
			   
			 Worden 51 
			   
		
	
	The overall average for Lancashire was 56 per cent.

School Playing Fields

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many school playing fields in (a) Dacorum, (b) Hertfordshire and (c) England have been sold off since May 1997.

Jacqui Smith: Since 1997 there has not been any applications involving the loss of a school playing field in Decorum.
	Five applications involving the loss of an area of school playing field capable of forming at least a small sports pitch have been approved at schools in Hertfordshire since 1997.
	The number of approved applications to dispose of an area of school playing field capable of forming at least a small sports pitch at schools in England in each year since 1997 is as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1997/98 2 
			 1998/99 35 
			 1999/2000 29 
			 2000/01 28 
			 2001/02 29 
			 2002/03 19 
			 2003/04 13 
			 2004/05 11 
			 2005/06 1 
			 Total 167 
		
	
	Prior to October 1998, there was no regulation of the sale of school playing fields at local authority controlled schools. If a local authority wanted to sell a school playing field there was nothing to stop it and it could spend the proceeds as it wished.

Sex and Relationships Education

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what training staff at (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have to undertake in order to teach sex and relationships education;
	(2)  what requirements there are in the (a) statutory and (b) non-statutory element of the sex and relationships education syllabus on issues of sexuality;
	(3)  what her latest estimate is of the proportion of parents who withdraw their child from the non-statutory elements of sex and relationships education in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in England;
	(4)  how much authority a school has to determine its own sex and relationships education policy.

Jacqui Smith: All teachers of sex and relationship education are encouraged to undertake the Government funded teachers' certificate in personal social and health education (PSHE). The certificate supports standards in the delivery of PSHE teaching including sex and relationship education and is available to both primary and secondary school teachers. Almost 5,000 teachers have undertaken the certificate since 2002. A PSHE certificate programme is also available to school and community nurses who support sex education in schools. Over 600 nurses have undertaken the certificate.
	The statutory requirements for sex education are outlined in national curriculum science. In addition, secondary schools must teach about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Other discretionary elements of sex and relationship education are included in the non-statutory PSHE framework. Schools are able to develop their own sex education programmes beyond the statutory minimum taking into account the views of parents and the needs of pupils. Schools are free to determine their own sex education policy taking account of the requirements of the national curriculum and guidance issued by the Secretary of State.
	We do not collect data centrally on the numbers of parents withdrawing pupils from the non-statutory elements of sex education. Ofsted (Sex and Relationships, 2002) estimates 0.04 per cent. of parents exercise this right.

Teachers

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance the Department has issued to supply teacher agencies on (a) required and (b) recommended background checks on persons applying for work as supply teachers in the last two years.

Ruth Kelly: holding answer 19 January 2006
	Updated advice about checks on teachers, including supply teachers, was published on my Department's Teachernet website in September 2004. In addition my Department's guidance entitled Safeguarding Children: Safer Recruitment and Selection in Education Settings published in June 2005 was addressed to employment agencies and businesses that provide staff to schools as well as Head Teachers, Governing Bodies of schools, Local Education authorities, proprietors of independent schools, and Further Education institutions. That guidance included advice about the information that should be obtained from applicants and their referees and about interviewing candidates, as well as guidance on CRB, List 99 and other pre-appointment checks.
	In the future we will require mandatory CRB checks on anyone selected for appointment who is or has been resident in the UK. For those who have never lived in this country, we already advise employers to take extra care in checks on overseas candidates and to seek information about the person's criminal history from their country of origin wherever possible. The CRB provides advice to employers about countries from which it is possible to obtain such information and how to obtain it.

Child Trust Funds

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the cost of the Child Trust Fund scheme in the next five years, including administration costs;
	(2)  what the cost of the Child Trust Fund scheme has been, including administration costs, in each year since the scheme was introduced.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentlemen to the answer given to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr. Byrne) on 22 March 2005, Official Report, column 701W.
	Other Child Trust Fund costs including administration are set out in the table.
	
		
			   million 
		
		
			 200405 52 
			 200506 37 
			 200607 25 
			 200708 15 
			 200809 15 
			 200910 15

Council Tax (Castle Point)

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Castle Point residents received council tax benefit in each of the last five years.

James Plaskitt: I have been asked to reply.
	The information is in the table.
	
		Council tax benefit recipients in Castle Point boroughcouncil area.
		
			  
		
		
			 May 2001 5,100 
			 May 2002 5,100 
			 May 2003 5,200 
			 May 2004 5,400 
			 May 2005 5,900 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
	2. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
	3. Council tax benefit totals exclude any second adult rebate cases.
	Source:
	Housing benefit and council tax benefit management information system quarterly 100 percent. caseload stock-counts taken between May 2001 and May 2005.

Death Statistics

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average death rates were, allowing for age and sex standardisation, from (a) all causes, (b) coronary heart disease, (c) stroke and (d) cancer in each ward in (i) Crosby constituency and (ii) the city of Liverpool in the last year for which figures are available.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the reasonability of the national statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 January 2006
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the average death rates were allowing for age and sex standardisation from (a) all causes, (b) coronary heart disease, (c) stroke and (d) cancer, for each ward in (i) Crosby constituency and (ii) the City of Liverpool in the last year for which figures are available.
	Due to small numbers of deaths in many wards, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not produce mortality rates for specific causes at the geographic level requested. Numbers of deaths in wards in England and Wales for selected causes, including coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer, are available for 2004, as part of the Vital Statistics (VS) series of outputs.
	Standardised Mortality Ratios for all causes of death for wards in England and Wales, based on deaths in the period 19992003, will be published by ONS in Spring 2006.
	The North West Public Health Observatory publication Where Wealth means Heath: Illustrating Inequality in the North West1 includes a map of Standardised Mortality Ratios for Lower-layer Super Output Areas in the North West. This publication is available on the North West Public Health Observatory website at: http://www.nwpho.org.uk
	Mortality rates for all causes, cancer and circulatory diseases are also available to download from this website for Middle-layer Super output Areas in the North West.
	1 Wood J, Hennell T. Jones A, Hooper J. Tocque K, Bellis M. Where Wealth means Health: Illustrating Inequality in the North West. Liverpool, 2006.

EU Budget (UK Contributions)

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what methodology was used to calculate the (a) Treasury estimate of the UK net contribution to the EU budget and (b) the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates of the net contribution to EU institutions; what items are included in each; and if he will recalculate the UK net contributions for each year from 200607 to 201213 using the ONS methodology and taking account of the recent budget changes.

John Healey: Figures published by the Treasury for the United Kingdom's net contribution to the EC Budget consist of the United Kingdom's gross contribution less the UK abatement and less public sector receipts. An explanation of the reasons for any differences between this and the Office for National Statistics' presentation of UK official transactions with Institutions of the EU (Table 9.9 (page 151) of the 2005 Pink Book is given on page 183 of the Pink Book. The Office for National Statistics figures are published on a calendar year basis and are historic. Financial year forecasts are not produced on the basis of the Office for National Statistics presentation. Revised forecasts of UK net contributions to the EC Budget, on the usual HM Treasury method, will be included in the Financial Statement and Budget Report.

Fuel Duty/RPI

David Chaytor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the annual percentage change in (a) fuel duty and (b) the retail price index was in each of the last 10 years.

John Healey: Historical fuel duty rates can be found in Hydrocarbon Oils Bulletin published by HM Revenue and Customs and available on UK Trade Info website: www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task=statindex. Historical retail price index can be found in Pocket Data Bank published by HM Treasury and available on HMT website: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/economic_dat a_and_tools/data_index.cfm.

Private/Public Sector Employment (Coventry)

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) private sector jobs in (i) manufacturing and (ii) the service sector and (b) public sector jobs there were in Coventry South in each year since 1997.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 25 January 2006
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about private and public sector employment. I am replying her absence. (44632)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics for the United Kingdom of public sector employment from a quarterly survey of public sector organisations. However, estimates at local area level are not available.
	Information at local area level is available from the annual local area Labour Force Survey (LFS) of individual people in households. However, in this source, the categorisation of employment in the public or private sector depends upon the responses from the individuals interviewed. As reported by ONS in October 2005 in the publication Public Sector Employment Trends, some individuals tend to misreport private sector employment as being in the public sector hence leading to overestimates of the share of public sector employment.
	With this reservation about the data quality, the attached table shows the number of persons in private sector employment, by the specified splits and for the public sector, for people resident in the Coventry South constituency as shown by the annual local LFS for the 12 month periods ending February 1998 to February 2004.
	These estimates, as with any from sample surveys, are subject to a margin of uncertainty. Changes in the estimates from year to year should be treated with particular caution.
	Yours sincerely,
	
		Persons in employment resident in the Coventry South constituency by private-public sector split(30)
		
			 Thousand 
			  Private Sector 
			 12 months ending February: Manufacturing Services Other industries(31) Public Sector Total 
		
		
			 1998 n/a n/a n/a n/a 34 
			 1999 7 18 2 7 33 
			 2000 7 19 2 7 35 
			 2001 7 22 2 12 43 
			 2002 10 23 4 10 47 
			 2003 10 22 3 10 45 
			 2004 10 18 3 10 41 
		
	
	n/a = Not available.
	(30) Public/private sector split based on responses from individuals responding to the annual local area Labour Force Surveygenerally overestimate public sector employment.
	(31) Other industries are Agriculture, Fishing, Energy and Water and Construction.
	Note:
	Estimates are subject to sampling variability. Changes from year to year should be treated with particular caution.
	Source:
	Annual local area Labour Force Survey.

Tax Credits

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many prosecuted cases of tax credit fraud relate to (a) individuals and (b) criminal gangs.

Dawn Primarolo: The following table provides the breakdown of prosecuted cases for tax credit fraud.
	
		
			   Number 
			  Individuals Organised crime (Gangs) 
		
		
			 200001 2  
			 200102 28  
			 200203 35  
			 200304 59  
			 200405 211  
			 200506(32) 190 3 
			 (32) To end of December

Tax Credits

Greg Hands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many cases of forged tax credits there were in Hammersmith and Fulham in each of the five years before the Jobcentre Plus scheme was launched; and how many there were in the last year for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: ft is not possible to provide the information in the format requested.

Tax Credits

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints were received by HM Revenue and Customs in relation to the recovery of tax credit overpayments in each year for which figures are available broken down by (a) tax credit and (b) region.

Dawn Primarolo: Information on complaints about the recovery of tax credits received in HM Revenue and Customs is not available.
	For information about the number of disputed tax credit overpayments received in HM Revenue and Customs, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) and the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 12 December 2005, Official Report, columns 179192W. The number of disputed tax credit overpayments received in the month of November was around 32,500.

Tax Credits

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how much has been paid in additional payments to tax credit claimants on account of hardship after reporting excess in-year payments in each year for which figures are available, broken down by (a) type of tax credit and (b) region;
	(2)  how many tax credit claimants who reported excess in-year payments (a) received additional payments on account of hardship and (b) had their tax credits withdrawn in each year for which figures are available, broken down by (i) type of tax credit and (ii) region .

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman) on 8 December 2005, Official Report, columns 145556W. The number of claims for which payments had been adjusted in 200506, up to 31 December 2005, is around 3,200. All of the information cannot be broken down in the format requested.

Tax Credits

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how much in tax credits has been found to have been overpaid as a result of annual tax credit reviews in each year for which figures are available, broken down by (a) type of tax credit and (b) region;
	(2)  how many claimants have been discovered during their annual tax credit review to have had tax credits overpaid to them in each year for which figures are available, broken down by (a) type of tax credit and (b) region; and in how many of these cases payments were (i) withdrawn and (ii) reduced.

Dawn Primarolo: Estimates for 200304 of the numbers of in-work families with tax credits awards, including information on overpayments and underpayments by constituency, based on final family circumstances and incomes for 200304 are published in Child and Working Tax Credits. Finalised Awards. 2003- 04 Geographical Analysis. This publication and provisional estimates for the number of in-work families by constituency with tax credit awards as at selected dates in 200405 are available on the HMRC website at: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm. Estimates of numbers and values of overpayments or underpayments for 200405 awards at 5 April 2005 will not be available until after family circumstances and incomes for 200405 have been finalised. Information concerning withdrawn and reduced payments is not available.

Tax Credits

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the maximum household income was below which (a) families and (b) individuals were eligible for each tax credit in each year for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: Most families with children are entitled to tax credits with incomes of up to 58,000, or up to 66,000 if at least one child is under the age of one. This could be higher if there are a large number of eligible children or the family has two or more children and maximum eligible childcare costs.
	For families without children, receiving the basic and 30-hour element of WTC only, the maximum income at which they could receive tax credits, since the introduction of working tax credit is given in the following table:
	
		
			
			  Singles Couples 
		
		
			 200304 10,700 14,800 
			 200405 10,900 15,100 
			 200506 11,300 15,600

VAT Fraud

David Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to the Government in 200405 of Missing Trader Intra Community (Carousel) VAT fraud; and what estimate he has made of the cost in 200506.

Dawn Primarolo: HMRC's latest estimates of MTIC fraud were published as part of the PBR 2005 documentation. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pbr2005/mitl2005.pdf These cover all forms of MTIC fraud, not just the carousel variant. Because of the difficulty of obtaining accurate estimates of the scale of fraud, the figures are presented as a range.
	HMRC do not produce forecasts of MTIC fraud, so an estimate for 200506 is not available.

Child Support Agency

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of calls to the Child Support Agency helpline were (a) answered, (b) received, (c) engaged and (d) hung up on in each month from June to November; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 25 January 2006
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of calls to the Child Support Agency helpline have been (a) answered (b) received (c) engaged and (d) hung up on in each month from June to November; and if he will make a statement.
	The information requested is contained in the attached table.
	With regard to the first part of the question, the proportion of calls answered has been presented in two ways. Some calls are either ineffective (due to a network failure, for example) or are abandoned or lost during the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) part of the process before they have joined a queue to be answered by staff (for example if a client does not have their National Insurance number to hand and hangs up to go and find it before calling back). Therefore this figure has also been presented as a proportion of the total calls that are available for Agency staff to answer.
	I hope you find this helpful.
	
		
			  2005 
			  June July August September October November 
		
		
			 Attempted customer calls to both CS2 and CSCS numbers 463,000 418,000 440,000 500,000 480,000 454,000 
			 Calls for which outcome not recorded 7,000 5,000 4,000 4,000 4,000 2,000 
			 Calls for which outcome recorded 456,000 413,000 436,000 496,000 476,000 452,000 
			 Of which:   
			 Percentage calls that received an engaged/busy tone 1   1 5  
			 Percentage calls otherwise ineffective 3 2 2 3 3 2 
			 Percentage calls abandoned/lost during the IVR process. 4 5 5 5 6 7 
			 Percentage calls abandoned in the queue (post IVR) 10 8 9 11 8 6 
			 Percentage calls answered 82 86 83 79 77 85 
			 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 
			
			 Percentage calls answered that were available to staff to answer (post IVR) 89 92 90 88 90 93 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Data is presented for calls made regarding cases on the new system (CS2) and the old system (CSCS) combined.
	2.  indicates a figure less than 0.5 per cent.
	3. Total calls attempted exclude calls attempted outside working hours.
	4. 'Calls for which outcome not recorded' are those which were received but for which, due to problems with the MI system, the eventual outcome was not recorded. Some of these calls would have been answered, and others would have been abandoned. The volume of such calls has decreased significantly in the last 3 years as management information systems have improved.
	5. 'Calls for which outcome recorded' are those which were received and for which there is management information to track the eventual outcome.
	6. Other ineffective calls are those that resulted in a ring tone but no reply, fail due to network technical problems, or are answered by a BT message but do not connect to the CSA system.
	7. IVR denotes the automated touch tone part of the process where customers enter their details via the telephone key pad. Once callers have cleared this part of the process, they enter a queue to be answered by a member of CSA staff. There is no IVR process on the old system.
	8. The percentage of calls abandoned in the queue refers to the percentage of total calls received, for which the outcome is recorded, that were abandoned once in a queue to be answered by staff.
	9. The percentage of calls answered that were available to staff to answer refers to calls answered as a proportion of those that were connected to the queue for an agent (post IVR where appropriate).
	10. Numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand, and percentages to the nearest 1 per cent. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Community Programme for Employment and  Social Solidarity

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on his Department's position on the Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity (PROGRESS); what (a) gender mainstream programmes, (b) diversity packages and (c) social inclusion projects are planned under the programme; what publicity work will accompany the programme; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: The UK, along with other member states, supports the need for this successor EU-level spending programme for the period 200713, which will provide financial support for the implementation of the Community's objectives for employment and social affairs and the achievement of the Lisbon goals. It will replace existing programmes to: promote measures to combat direct or indirect discrimination based on racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation; promote gender equality; support analysis, research and cooperation between member states in employment and labour market matters; and encourage cooperation between member states to combat social exclusion. The new programme does not propose a range of specific projects, but rather provides a framework to support EU-level actions under the areas covered, such as developing statistical tools, sharing of best practice, awareness-raising campaigns and support for organisations operating in the relevant fields. This includes action in the three areas you mention where, for example, we would expect support to continue for the common legislative framework on gender equality, which provides a level playing field for the single European market in goods and services. But legislation is only part of the storypractice has to change and PROGRESS will enable good practice to be developed and shared between member states. Similarly, PROGRESS is likely to maintain support for a range of intermediary groups from across the UK to increase knowledge and understanding by employers and individuals of new anti-discrimination law. It should also support a range of research projects, such as those looking at the provision of services for ethnic minority elders; the particular barriers faced by the most deprived children and families in gaining access to welfare provisions; and ways of improving links between local and central government in the field of social exclusion. Once agreed, the new unified programme will be publicised via the usual Commission and other European institute and news routes, including web and press, and through the existing management structures for those working under the current programmes.

Pensions (Deemed Buy-back)

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what total (a) gross and (b) net amounts his Department has budgeted for in each of the next three years in respect of Deemed Buy Backs of pensions.

Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply
	The information requested is not available. This is because a person may find himself or herself in a pension scheme that winds up in an underfunded position at any time during their working life. If they opt for Deemed Buy Back they will only benefit from any State Additional Pension rights secured when they become entitled to their State Retirement Pension. This could be many years into the future. No funds are, nor can be, set aside arising from Deemed Buy Back.